Drivers oppose monopoly of Široki Brijeg school: The only one in BiH issuing licences!?

Thousands of drivers from Bosnia and Herzegovina are demanding that the Council of Ministers of BiH abolish the monopoly of the Široki Brijeg school 'Centar za obrazovanje', which is the only one in BiH verifying diplomas for international transport, Patria reports.

First, drivers from the BiH entity of Republika Srpska rebelled, and now their colleagues from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina are demanding the same.

The secondary vocational school with public rights 'Centar za obrazovanje' in Široki Brijeg is currently the only one in the country authorised to carry out professional training for managers and drivers in international road transport. For comparison, the official website of the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Croatia lists addresses of as many as 48 schools and companies that conduct qualification programmes for international transport and other qualifications.

The founder of the Široki Brijeg school is Mila Ševo. The Register of Legal Entities in BiH states that the founding capital of the school is 100 KM. They obtained the job of five-year professional training of managers and drivers in international road transport in BiH in 2011. Since then, they have collected around four million KM from BiH drivers.

The oversight with Centar za obrazovanje occurred during the mandate of the Minister of Transport and Communications of BiH, Rudo Vidović. The then state minister Vidović awarded the job to Ševo's school, even though education is under the jurisdiction of entities and cantons. Vidović had previously approved an illegal rulebook, according to which he gave the monopoly to the school from Široki Brijeg.

A source from the Patria news agency within the Council of Ministers of BiH explains that Centar za obrazovanje not only obtained this lucrative job under suspicious circumstances, but also failed to make payments to the budget of Bosnia and Herzegovina, even though they were obliged to do so because they received the job 'by public authorisation'. One annual licence for international road transport costs between 500 and 700 KM. Part of that money was supposed to be retained by Centar za obrazovanje, and the remainder paid into the budget of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but the Centre did not do this.

Former state ministers of finance and justice, Nikola Špirić and Bariša Čolak, warned Vidović's successor, Minister Damir Hadžić, that Centar za obrazovanje from Široki Brijeg was not paying money into the budget, but the contract with this school was not terminated even then.

These days, Centar za obrazovanje has requested from the Ministry of Transport and Communications of BiH the renewal of the lucrative contract, Patria reports.